Departure date/time and layover duration for stops on imported GPX files

#1 · 12.06.2023, 09:23

Quote from Dae on 12.06.2023, 09:23
My wife and I have been long term Basecamp users, from when it first came available on Windows. At the start of this year our BMW Nav VI units died, so we moved over to using Scenic on dedicated iPhones. At the same time we ditched Basecamp and started using My Route App for route planning. There are 2 things that we are really missing when routes are imported into Scenic, that both Basecamp and MRA support.

These two items are:

Departure time – you can set the date/time that a route will start. This has the advantage that when you look at the list of routes to choose where to navigate, the one that starts closes to the current date/time is at the top of the list. This is stored in an exported GPX file (using either Basecamp or MRA v1.2) using the tag “trp:DepartureTime”, which is part of the Garmin GPX extensions for routepoints (rtept).

Layover time – When setting a layover point (Scenic Stop), you can specify how long you will remain at that Stop before continuing the route. This means that the ETA for the end of the route, and any intermediate Stops, is corrected to take into account the layover times. We use this extensively when planning routes so that the arrival time reflects the planned stops for coffee/fuel/lunch etc. It means that you don’t have to manually keep track of upcoming stops and mentally add it to the ETA, which invariably says you’ll complete your all-day route by 13:30. This is stored in the tag “trp:StopDuration”, which again is part of the Garmin GPX extensions for routepoints (rtept).

Are there any plans to incorporate this functionality into Scenic when importing GPX files?

<rte>
<name>Dae Test</name>
<rtept lat="53.804921351242" lon="-1.4515793323517">
<name>Route Departure Location</name>
<extensions>
<trp:ViaPoint>
<trp:DepartureTime>2023-06-16T16:00:00Z</trp:DepartureTime>
</trp:ViaPoint>
</extensions>
</rtept>
<rtept lat="53.803939295746" lon="-1.4514935016632">
<name>Test Stop for 45 minutes</name>
<extensions>
<trp:ViaPoint>
<trp:StopDuration>PT00H45M</trp:StopDuration>
</trp:ViaPoint>
</extensions>
</rtept>
</rte>

My wife and I have been long term Basecamp users, from when it first came available on Windows. At the start of this year our BMW Nav VI units died, so we moved over to using Scenic on dedicated iPhones. At the same time we ditched Basecamp and started using My Route App for route planning. There are 2 things that we are really missing when routes are imported into Scenic, that both Basecamp and MRA support.

These two items are:

Departure time – you can set the date/time that a route will start. This has the advantage that when you look at the list of routes to choose where to navigate, the one that starts closes to the current date/time is at the top of the list. This is stored in an exported GPX file (using either Basecamp or MRA v1.2) using the tag “trp:DepartureTime”, which is part of the Garmin GPX extensions for routepoints (rtept).

Layover time – When setting a layover point (Scenic Stop), you can specify how long you will remain at that Stop before continuing the route. This means that the ETA for the end of the route, and any intermediate Stops, is corrected to take into account the layover times. We use this extensively when planning routes so that the arrival time reflects the planned stops for coffee/fuel/lunch etc. It means that you don’t have to manually keep track of upcoming stops and mentally add it to the ETA, which invariably says you’ll complete your all-day route by 13:30. This is stored in the tag “trp:StopDuration”, which again is part of the Garmin GPX extensions for routepoints (rtept).

Are there any plans to incorporate this functionality into Scenic when importing GPX files?

<rte>
<name>Dae Test</name>
<rtept lat="53.804921351242" lon="-1.4515793323517">
<name>Route Departure Location</name>
<extensions>
<trp:ViaPoint>
<trp:DepartureTime>2023-06-16T16:00:00Z</trp:DepartureTime>
</trp:ViaPoint>
</extensions>
</rtept>
<rtept lat="53.803939295746" lon="-1.4514935016632">
<name>Test Stop for 45 minutes</name>
<extensions>
<trp:ViaPoint>
<trp:StopDuration>PT00H45M</trp:StopDuration>
</trp:ViaPoint>
</extensions>
</rtept>
</rte>

Mex has reacted to this post.

#2 · 12.06.2023, 09:39

Hi Dae,

I understand what you mean. It's on the list, but this will be a while. Importing these attributes would be quite an easy fix, but saving them in Scenic is another matter as currently, the database model does not have attributes for this. You see, Scenic doesn't store routes as (GPX) files, but rather in its database. To save these additional attributes requires a change in the database model in the app, a change in the server database model, and in the syncing mechanism.

Cheers,
Guido

Dae has reacted to this post.

If you're enjoying Scenic and are happy with the support, please leave a nice rating in the App Store. It would mean a lot to me ❤️

#3 · 12.06.2023, 16:00

Hi folks.

That is a cool idea. I lead groups on longer trips, the larger the group, the more time it takes to refill tank and/or stomache.

Gas-Station 30 Minutes with 10 persons. 5 minutes with my buddy.

Lunch break 1 hour or 30 minutes. ETA would be corrected and the WAF is fullfilled. Back home at the right time, perfect.

I know its not the highest priority (Android version first please. Makes no sense to advertise Scenic, when 60 % off my buddies cant use this great app), but its a: Nice to have!

In my imagination u set a Stop instead of a Via, and just select the Stop-time. E.g.: 10 minutes and it will add it to ETA.

Hope that isnt too complicated to realize it soon.

Would also be an outstanding feature, afaik.

Greets Mex

#4 · 13.06.2023, 00:41

Quote from Mex on 12.06.2023, 16:00

In my imagination u set a Stop instead of a Via, and just select the Stop-time. E.g.: 10 minutes and it will add it to ETA.

Exactly that. It makes leading a large group easier. When the inevitable “when will be at xxx?” is asked you don’t need to mentally calculate the ETA Scenic is showing plus all the layovers that are yet to be done.

#5 · 14.06.2023, 00:14

Nice, indeed.

#6 · 23.05.2024, 11:31

Found this thread, @guidomm, which is more appropriate for discussing what I was rambling about in the Garmin GPX thread. What everyone said above is what I was asking about. I don't think the MVP requires any runtime elements, it's more about overview/planning output, like Basecamp:

If you do decide someday to add this planning functionality (the one thing I miss about Basecamp is it did this), might I also mention that if you think about having waypoint categories (i.e. like the Garmin symbols), one could do things like *also* keep track of when I should plan a gas stop in addition to when should I plan a lunch stop, and when will I get home for dinner.

Here's the output from some software I wrote to help me with planning... When I use basecamp, I tag waypoints with the Fuel symbol or the Food symbol, and track milage since the route started. When I export the GPX, I run it through my code and it outputs this: (if you look at the "Dist" field, you can see miles since last gas (see 65/65 and 67/132 and 63/195)). I can track this stuff using the gpx <sym> field for waypoint type to distinguish fuel stops from other stuff, as well as take layovers into account.

In any case, just thought I'd mention it should you ever circle back to think about time planning, putting the structure in place for fuel planning and waypoint categories/symbols would be super sexy.

#7 · 23.05.2024, 13:09

Thanks for this additonal info. Scenic does have a feature like this, although not with the fuel stops and distance from fuel stop (it's on the list to add that in the future 🙂).... if you tap the little "chevron up" button in the power planner, you'll get a route timeline. Similarly, if, during navigation, you tap the bottom bar where you see ETA, you'll get a similar route timeline.

If you're enjoying Scenic and are happy with the support, please leave a nice rating in the App Store. It would mean a lot to me ❤️